I have read bits and pieces of what I'm searching for here and there on this Forum, but I haven't quite found the answer I need which ties it all together, so here goes:
I have a new Dell Dimension 9200 with the highest-end NVIDIA card they offer (GeForce 7900 GS) with Vista Business Edition and Media Player 11 (of course). I just installed Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 (the latest version, which is Vista-compatible) and when I try to play a garden-variety commercial DVD it loads and plays fine
in the Roxio/Sonic Cine Player which came with EMC 9. However, I don't care to use the Cine Player; rather, I want it to play on Media Player 11, which it won't do due to the proper codec plugin not being installed. I can get the titles to display and so forth, but then I get the dreaded message that "Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video", and that's the end of that. Yes, I've gone to the Microsoft-recommended page where you are supposed to be able to download the appropriate codec plugins for MP 11, but the problem is that all
the major vendors there (my preferred one is NVIDA, since that's the video card I have) say their software is for use on XP only and is not Vista compatible, even though I
got there through a link from inside of the Vista MP 11 application.
I have personally verified this by phone with each developer. And then, to add insult to injury, they all said that they may not even produce a DVD codec for Vista, at least not any time soon!
What's with these dunderheads, anyhow? Obviously there is a considerable market out here for such a piece of software, judging from the posts on this Forum; a great
many people choose to have Vista Business and, God forbid, maybe even Vista Home Edition, who still want to be able to play DVDs on their system. Anyway, I can't believe that these guys (NVIDIA, Sonic, InterVideo, CyberLink, etc) do not have any Vista-compatible codec plugins ready for this product, considering how long they've had to work on them!
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/plugins.aspx
So, just where the Devil does one find a new, current codec (paid or otherwise) which will work with the Vista Business version of MP 11 and allow the playback of DVDs? Apparently Microsoft has one which they provide in other versions of Vista, but I can't find any additional information on how to get ahold of it. Even though apparently the performance
isn't all that great I would still be quite happy to utilize it. Surely, in light of the total lack of any other 3rd party support, they have it available somewhere on their Website? Please understand that I have no interest in downloading and installing any "mega-pack" with tons of "extras" which I neither want nor need; all I require is one, single little codec
which will allow me to play DVDs natively in Media Player 11 - I don't need anything additional or fancy.
Kindly advise with names, links, or any other info you might have as to where any true, correct Vista Media Player 11 codec plugins might be obtained.
Thank you.
P.S. And if you want to flame any and all guilty parties who are responsible for this little debacle, please feel free to! This is a real Low Blow to the "non-Entertainment" users of Vista
who simply need basic, fundamental DVD playback capabilities in MP 11, without the Media Center bloat that comes along with the other versions.
You can always try the following link which gives you the complete package alongwith WMP 11.
http://www.torrentportal.com/details/685539/Windows+Media+Player+11+++Useful+Codecs+++Useful+Programs+(AIO)+(MUST+HAVE).torrent
Hope this will help....I havent tried it myself.......but I guess it is worth all the try....anyways you got nothing to lose. Please let me know how it works.
Regards.
immediate response would be highly appreciated<
Powerdvd 7.0+ works fine with WMP11 and vista in general. Windvd seems hit or miss. Purevideo also works fine now.
Thanks, Frozen!
You are saying another way exactly what I was trying to, albeit in a somewhat more simple fashion.
All I (and apparently great numbers of us) want is one simple codec which will allow us to utilize Windows Media Player 11 to play DVDs in Vista Business and Home Editions, as it was intended to do, without having to procure a whole 'nother 3rd-party program, which we neither want nor need.
That's the whole point of Vista being the "all-inclusive" OS that it is (or at least is supposed to be), so we don't have to go out and run down a bunch of 3rd-party "full-featured" garbage to install, just to make certain functions work, which should operate "natively" to begin with.
Why can't Microsoft (who, after all, started this whole thing) or somebody else out there simply provide the one measly, stand-alone little codec plugin we require to make Media Player 11 perform "as advertised"?
I mean, how monumental a programming task can it be?
In my ears this sounds really strange. My copy of Windows Vista Ultimate (tried both 64bit and 32bit) plays DVDs in both WMP 11 and VMC right out of the box using the MPEG2 decoder that comes preinstalled.
I tried a disc right now to be sure and this is from a clean install done yesterday. The only thing that ive installed afterwards is ffdshow (google for it) witch is allso a free MPEG2 decoder amongst other things. Anybody tried installing this yet? http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm
But then maby the Ultimate version comes with extra stuff that I dont know about yet, and that im just a fool that have no clue at all. If so, just disregard my post :-)
Lathly,
Did you read my original post?
Perhaps it wasn't clear enough, and if so here's the poop:
Microsoft included the necessary codec to play DVDs in its Vista "Home Premium" and "Ultimate" Editions, which are designed to have a plethora of multimedia and entertainment features in them.
On the other hand, Vista "Home Basic" and "Business" Editions were designed for (as indicated) basic home use and general business use, respectively.
However, and for totally unknown reasons Microsoft in their infinite wisdom somehow decided (or overlooked?) the fact that both the "Home Basic" and "Business" users would still need the ability to play DVDs NATIVELY in Windows Media Player 11 in their respective Editions, even if they didn't want or need the unGodly bloat and overhead which comes with the other "multimedia" Editions.
Specifically in the case of the Vista Business Edition, few if any businesses in their right mind would even want the extra garbage which is included with Vista Ultimate for their workers, yet they definitely need the ability to use the DVD playback capability for CTB (Computer Based Training) what with all the extra-tight budgets out there today.
And finally to add insult to injury, Microsoft seems to be telling us to go out and dig-up the single codec plugin (which they should have included in the first place) from other 3rd-party vendors who provided them for Windows XP; however (and according to personal communications I've had with all of the recommended providers), none of them even have any individual codec plugins available for Media Player 11 nor (at least at this point in time) do they plan to make any available.
The only other suggested solution is to go out and buy an entirely new stand-alone DVD player from some of the afore-mentioned 3rd-party vendors, and that is simply not an acceptable alternative when all we want (and indeed are entitled to) is for Media Player 11 to work correctly, no matter what "Edition" of Vista which we, the good and faithful customers of Microsoft, choose to purchase.
So, does that answer your question?
Lest we forget the whole windows 98 bundled with IE debacle from a few years ago, you have to understand that Microsoft has to LICENSE certain technologies. DVD playback is definitely one of them. The fact that the top tier editions have it means that those DO have the license to play it. DVD is one of those things (like Divx,real, flac) that while widespread and widely accepted, are NOT owned by Microsoft and require contract/royalties, etc. Remember, DVD decoding require those ever present DeCSS keys that were cracked. Those keys are vendor specific and must be licensed. And while Microsoft finally got their own for the included decoder, it is foolish to expect it in the stripped down versions when said versions are being marketed as "Basic" and "Business". CBT will usually have an included decoder or their own player due to the simple fact that it is foolish to expect a PC to have a decoder installed, even in this age. Thus, the need for a DVD decoder doesnt even apply to CTBs unless it is just a video DVD, which then isnt even a true CTB.
You wouldn't expect a PC to natively play BluRay or HD DVD would you? DVD, as old as it is, still needs to be licensed. One of the additional costs of the "bloat" as you put it, IS this licensing fee. This is the first version of windows to play DVD natively, yet only on the top editions and people still complain about something.
SHow me where WMP says it NATIVELY supports DVD playback. Anything you will find will always say something along the lines of "with a proper decoder".
Yes, Roxio did finally come out with a Vista Media Player 11 DVD codec plug-in which works quite well, especially if you already use Roxio products (no compatibility issues).
Even though I just installed the very latest version, Roxio Easy Media Creator 10, it still did not include the the necessary codec to allow Media Player 11 to play DVDs.
You can get there by clicking the "Look for plug-ins on the Web" link under the "Plug-ins" tab of the Media Player "Options" dialog box or just click on this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/plugins.aspx?locale=409&geoid=f4&version=11.0.6000.6344&userlocale=409
It appears that even late-to-the-party CyberLink has gotten into the act, but I prefer to stick with the Roxio product for the reasons stated above.
Go there now, and good luck!
This is kind of an after-thought, but as long as I'm up here already I figured I would reply to Dracula's somewhat condescending lecture, if he's still around out there somewhere:
Licensing issues aside, I never maintained that Media Player 11 in Vista Business Edition said that it natively supported DVD playback, any more than Media Player 10 in XP Professional did (although I might have implied that in my opinion it perhaps should have); rather, my point was that somebody (Microsoft or a 3rd party, I didn't care) should have made one available, paid or otherwise, so that those of us who need to use Vista Business (which can hardly be considered a "stripped down" version, for what it costs) and wish to utilize the included Media Player can do so. I had no objection to paying for the plug-in, if only there was one available from somebody. (As a sidebar, there seemed to be any number of "free" DVD decoders floating around out there on the Web, just not one specifically made for Vista / MP 11, at least at the time.)
As for your comment about a CBT DVD (and yes, more and more "mainstream" programs are appearing in DVD format these days, certainly to include Computer Based Training compilations which by their very nature tend to be interactive multimedia, hence lending themselves to a DVD content scheme) coming with its own decoder, that was about as irrelevant to my point as the observation that one gets a variety of other decoders and DVD players when they install virtually any "burning" suite, such as Roxio, Nero, or whoever; the point is that I (and a whole lot of other people) wanted Media Player 11 to play the DVDs of our choice, and not some other 3rd party application, whether it was included as part of the content of a particular disc or not.
I know, it's that pesky "choice" thing again, but that's just the way it is; we are the customers here, and not the other way around.
However, the whole debate has been rendered moot now anyway, because Roxio (initially) and CyberLink (finally) have wisely rolled-out Vista Media Player 11 DVD decoders and they're selling like hotcakes, for those of us who can only afford the "stripped down" versions of the operating system.